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Courage to Find the Strength

Chapter 27

The scene before the newly arrived and panting foursome was truly awesome indeed. The three students merely gaped at the carnage all around. Dumbledore was taking on AT LEAST ten Dark Wizards on his own while five or six were already incapacitated around him. Sirius was in a bad bind of three on one, but was somehow managing to stay afloat. Lupin was finishing off another couple and trying to make his way back to Sirius. But there were still far too many of them against far too few.

"Why didn't that cursed man WAIT for us!" Snape cried, rushing into the throng, dodging hexes and shouting curses and counter-curses. If Draco's, Harry's, and Ron's jaws could drop any further, they would have fallen on the floor.

"Woah, go Professor Snape!" Ron muttered, undeniably impressed.

"Don't just stand there! Get in there!" Malfoy pushed the other two and started to go in a different direction.

Harry grabbed his arm and spun him around, his eyes narrowed. "And where are YOU going?"

"I'm going after Hermione, where else? Care to stop me?" Draco stated as a blatant threat.

"No," Harry shook his head and dodged a rebounding hex. "Of course not. Just, just be careful, will you?"

Malfoy's eyes shot up in surprise. "Yeah, you, too. See you on the other side."

The two boys briefly shook hands. Malfoy nodded to Ron who nodded in return. Then, Malfoy disappeared into the crowd. Harry and Ron, too, jumped headfirst into the fray. Much to Malfoy's annoyance, the Dark Wizards started muttering, "Potter! Potter is here! Get Potter!" They should have been worrying about him! (What was it about Potter anyway?!!)

Draco made his way back to the room where the bodies had been. He didn't know if she'd be in there or not, but it was worth a start. Voldemort had to have brought her back here, even if it was just her cor- NO! He wouldn't think like that! She HAD to be alive.

Draco fought off a Death Eater and charged into the room, and stopped in shock and confusion. Was this the same room? No trace of the horrors in there remained. All the bodies had been removed, and in their place, cases of the Spiderwort protective potion lay open and half empty. Next to them, the modified warheads were in different states of readiness. Draco found it hard not to stop and study them for a moment, trying to recall the bits and pieces he remembered of his recent nights spent here. Yes, it was coming back. All of the weapons had been tampered with to detonate by way of a magical detonator at the altitude that would provide the maximum yield. The Pink Spiderwort was protected by a magical charm that would ensure it survived the initial blast and mix with the radioactive fallout. Ordinarily, the magical creatures that survived Ground Zero would be immune to the radiation. However, with the Pink Spiderwort mixing into the water supply and wind currents, the devastation would be on a catastrophic scale. Muggles and magical beings alike had no chance for survival, leaving the world free to reshape in whatever manner Voldemort saw fit.

With the dragon carcass now gone, Draco could see a small doorway in the back of the room. As he cautiously approached, having rethought the whole rushing headfirst into unknown situations idea, he distinctly heard his father's voice, followed by a cutting reply by Lord Voldemort. Draco stealthily crept into the room, unnoticed.

"My Lord, is it wise to return here? Dumbledore and his men are right outside!" Lucius anxiously stated.

"My Death Eaters are more than enough to handle them!" Voldemort returned his attention to the bound form of the girl before him. She was suspended in the air by a Mobilicorpus spell, and Draco assumed she was unconscious, but thankfully alive.

"My Lord! Please reconsider! We are so close to fruition, to lose to Dumbledore now would be the end of us, sire! Azkaban, Lord Voldemort!"

"Will you be silent! If by some miracle Dumbledore should prevail, I can assure you, you will never see the inside of that prison," Voldemort coldly said. "Now, go fetch my things! I will check on the weapons."

"My Lord, Harry Potter is right out there! This is madness!"

"All the better if I should face him, Lucius. Question me one more time, and it will be the last thing you utter," Voldemort said imperiously, and with a swish of his black robes walked right past Draco hidden in the shadows and back out of the room.

Lucius' lips curled as he regarded the prone Hermione. He brought his hand back to slap her when someone caught it before he could bring it downward.

"Draco."

"Father." Draco stepped in front of his father.

"Does your mother know you're home?" Lucius sneered.

"She's the one that led Dumbledore here," Draco coldly said just to see his father's reaction, and he wasn't disappointed. Lucius flinched, having never expected his obedient wife to be capable of such a betrayal.

"What? Did you honestly think she loved you, Dad? With the beatings? And the mistresses? But, I think she really started to hate you when you set in on me. You didn't see the look in her eye the night I became a Death Eater, did you? Murderous, I would describe."

"Interesting choice of words, son." Lucius held up his wand.

"It was intentional," Draco's eyes glinted in anticipation. Then, the fight began.

***

Scared out of their wits, Ron and Harry were nevertheless having the time of their lives. Time and again, they helped each other out of tight jams. So far, six Death Eaters were stupefied, and all they had received in return were a couple of boils and a few scrapes. Harry was doubly thankful Ron and his brothers had been around to show him how to physically spar. Half of their victories had been due, not to magic, but double fists to the jaw. They would have had more Dark Wizards stupefied, but their buddies kept enervating them much to the duo's dismay. Still, twice they'd helped out Lupin and Sirius, and once Snape had come to their rescue. Harry kept trying to see how Dumbledore was making out, but by the explosions and flashes of light, he assumed he was doing just fine.

Then, Ron shouted, "Snape's down! Time to return the favor!"

"Are you really sure?" Harry grinned evilly.

Ron grinned back. "Don't you wish!"

The two boys ducked between their two attackers and made their way to their fallen Professor.

"Enervate!" They shouted and Professor Snape suddenly sprung back into motion. Harry caught Sirius' eye who gave him a grin that said 'What did you do that for?' Harry winked back, refocusing his attention.

Snape, Harry, Ron, all had their backs pressed to one another and were busy countering curses and trying to catch expelled wands while not losing their own. "What did you do that for?" Snape hissed. "I was FINE!"

"Excuse me for saying so, Professor, but you didn't LOOK fine!" Harry argued and narrowly deflected a curse.

"You cruddy creep! The least you could say is Thank You!" Ron was insulted.

"That's detention for you when we get back to Hogwarts. Now, duck down, both of you!" Snape spun around and hit two of the Death Eaters with a confusion hex. They both stumbled forward, and Ron and Harry socked these two like others.

"Stupefy!" they each shouted, already selecting their next targets.

***

Draco and Lucius moved in a circle around each other, eyes locked, wands held tensely. Neither made a move. Finally, Lucius lunged and yelled, "Crucio!"

Draco ducked as the spell blasted harmlessly into the wall behind him. He stood up shocked. His father had actually used one of the three Unforgivable curses on him. This fight hadn't seemed real until now, but it was about to get interesting. Like two dancers, their spells collided and slid past each other, graceful but deadly. Fast as lightning, they dueled, some elements going as far back as Draco's early childhood. But Draco Malfoy was no longer a child, but a grown wizard. While his father may have had experience on his side, Draco had youth and vitality, and soon the older wizard showed signs of fatigue.

"Ready to give it up, Father?" Draco smirked as his last hex partially hit its mark.

"No," Lucius panted. "Never to an insolent child like you."

"Fine. Have it your way." Draco continued the dance, wearing his partner down step by step.

Finally, the end drew near. Lucius, succumbing to a Stumbling spell, fell untidily to the floor. Draco raised his wand to finish him off, a joyous, triumphant smile on his features. "Do it, then! Finish me!" Lucius spat, literally, at Draco.

"Avada - "

"No!"

Draco spun around to face Hermione who was struggling desperately against the incapacitating spell. "Wha-"

"Behind you!" she yelled.

Lucius lunged at Draco, but the younger wizard managed to fall backwards and kick vault his father overhead to crash into a wall. "Stupefy!" he shouted, finally bringing an end to the terrible duel.

Draco rushed over and reversed the Mobilicorpus spell. Hermione sank into his arms, and he cradled her head. "I thought I lost you," he murmured into her curls, holding her tightly with his other arm.

Hermione wrapped her arms around him, and they sank to the floor, both exhausted. "You almost did. He, he almost got to me."

"What saved you?" Draco wonderingly asked, holding her head back to look into her luminous brown eyes.

"You. You did. At the very last moment, I remembered you telling me in the Girl's Lavatory how much you loved me. Do you recall that conversation?"

Draco laughed and held her tighter, rocking her. "Of course, I do. Of course, I do. I meant every word! Oh my God, Hermione, you had me frightened! I thought he might have turned you!"

"I'm still here," she fiercely whispered into his ear. "I told you before. You can't get rid of me that easily. I love you too much."

"I love you, too." Then, he kissed her with a surprising passion for one who just went through the duel of a lifetime. Their kisses were furious, bruising, desperate to be with one another again, their hands fists in each other's hair.

Hermione broke away first. "The bombs? Did you defuse them?"

Draco paled. "No. I didn't. I've been busy," then he grinned and kissed her again.

"Oh, okay, enough," Hermione laughed. "Come on, which way did Voldemort go?" She pushed herself unsteadily to her feet. "Idiots, they didn't even take my wand from me. "

Draco rolled his eyes at her, teasing her. Then, he grimaced. "That way. But wait! Voldemort's in there. Do you think we can take him by ourselves?"

Hermione frowned and looked around as if Dumbledore, Harry, and the rest would suddenly materialize before her. "Where are the others?"

"Out there, fighting the Death Eaters. I don't know if any of them are still standing."

"Then we don't have much of a choice, do we? It's just us then." Hermione sighed and moved towards the door, but not before Draco caught her up in what he hoped was not their final kiss.

"Don't say it," she whispered. He nodded. Then, taking her hand, he made his way towards the doorway.

***